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Every year, more than 300,000 U.S. families have infants who require advanced medical care in neonatal intensive care units.

Specialized treatments and round-the-clock care rack up enormous bills for parents as they try to navigate their baby’s care. And in the worst case scenarios, some families are left with millions of dollars in medical bills long after their child has passed.

We talk to Kaiser Health News correspondent Lauren Weber about her reporting on how steep medical bills have impacted families and what resources are available for parents with infants in the NICU.

We also hear from Kingsley Raspe about the bills that piled up from treatments for his daughter, Sterling, and the heartbreak of dealing with insurers after she passed away at eight months old.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Ruby Bridges was just six years old in 1960 when she became the first Black child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.

She was escorted by four federal marshals and greeted by a mob of angry white protesters.

Today, Bridges is a civil rights activist and author, and she is sharing her experience with a new generation of kids in her latest children’s book, I Am Ruby Bridges.

Bridges tells her story through the eyes of her six-year-old self and talks about what today’s children can learn from her experience.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This week the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced recommendations that doctors screen all patients under 65 for anxiety.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve heard about sharp increases in the number of people suffering from mental health problems.

With a health care system already overburdened and seemingly unable to deal with the rise in mental health issues, America is facing what is being called a mental health crisis.

But are we losing sight of another crisis – the issues causing increased anxiety and depression in Americans?

Host Michel Martin speaks with Dr. Danielle Carr about her recent essay in the New York Times, Mental Health Is Political.

The NFL has dealt with plenty of scandal this century, but this offseason was pretty rough.

Accusations of racist hiring practices, star players charged with sexual assault, and owners behaving badly have all been embarrassments for the league.

None of that has affected the bottom line. TV ratings are as high as ever and NFL programs dominate the Nielsen top ten.

Our host Juana Summers talks to Kevin Draper, sports reporter for the New York Times, about what, if anything, can slow down the NFL juggernaut.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

More than 55,000 people in the U.S. are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to research from The Sentencing Project.

Behind bars, they are largely unseen and unheard.

The Visiting Room Project is an effort to change that. It’s a collection of first-person testimonials of people who are serving life sentences.

We hear inmates tell their stories and talk with Calvin Duncan, co-creator the project, which invites the public to sit face-to-face with people who have no chance of parole.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has allocated billions of dollars to Puerto Rico to help it rebuild from Hurricane Maria with more resilient infrastructure. Five years after the storm, only a tiny fraction of it has been spent, and Hurricane Fiona has again left much of the island in the dark.

NPR’s Adrian Florido explains how Fiona has left some Puerto Ricans feeling like their recovery has gone “back to zero.”

Sergio Marxuach, with The Center for a New Economy, a Puerto Rican think tank, explains why the island’s power grid is so fragile, despite dedicated federal funding to improve it.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

As record numbers of people in the U.S. die from drug overdoses, communities are searching for tools to prevent them. A new program in Canada could serve as a model.

Over the past few years, government-approved clinics have opened across the country, where people can use street drugs under medical supervision. If they overdose, they can get life-saving care immediately. Some doctors are even prescribing powerful opioids to patients to keep them from using street drugs that may be laced with deadly chemicals.

It’s a controversial program, and some in the medical community argue that it could encourage drug use.

NPR’s addiction correspondent Brian Mann visited some of those supervised injection sites in Ottawa, to see how the program is working.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

For many in the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth was synonymous with the monarchy. As she’s laid to rest, King Charles faces a potentially “existential” challenge in convincing the British and global public that the monarchy is a force for good, according to historian Dan Jones.

That may be a difficult task in the Commonwealth, a group of 56 countries connected in part by a history of British colonial rule. Many see the monarchy as inextricably linked to the injustices of that colonial system.

Jones talks to NPR’s Rachel Martin about the Queen’s legacy and the shoes Charles must now fill.

Jamaican member of Parliament Lisa Hanna explains why she believes the monarchy is at a crossroads and must use this moment to correct historical wrongs committed by the British Empire against people of the Caribbean.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

For the past six months, dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in Los Angeles have been striking almost every weekend.

This is because the strippers say they’ve faced unsafe working conditions, including assault and harassment from customers.

After the dancers say they were unable to meet with club managers to discuss their demands and were not allowed to work, they launched an effort to form a union.

This episode also features reporting from NPR’s Brianna Scott and KCRW’s Robin Estrin.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.